The woman who was injured after being bitten by a barracuda while swimming off Seven Mile Beach is expected to make a full recovery and has said she will return to Cayman again, despite her harrowing experience, a family spokesman stated.
“She’s going to be back for sure,” the spokesperson for the 70-year-old woman told the Cayman Compass via a Zoom interview from Canada, adding that, despite the unfortunate encounter, the German woman did enjoy her holiday in Cayman.
The victim, he said, is still ‘sensitive’ about the incident and does not want her name or her photo released.
He said the woman was 70 and not 84, as first indicated.
He added that, despite what happened, “she loved it here”.
The incident happened on the Heroes Day public holiday, last Monday.
“She didn’t do anything wrong… she just swam in the murky water. She was just doing a good thing… enjoying it and all of a sudden bang out of the blue, no warning.. nothing. It could have been a lot worse,” he said.
The woman was bitten in the middle of her right arm while swimming off The Colonial Club on Seven Mile Beach, the Department of Environment said in a Facebook post.
“Everything worked well to stop [her] bleeding to death. Everybody on shore… everybody worked so magnificently. So, a lot of praise for the people that helped,” the spokesperson said.
Quick action by members of the public praised
Fortunately this is going to be full recovery with minimal damage. Everyone’s happy and I’d just like to, on behalf of the family, thank everybody that participated because they’re all wonderful people here.”
He said she has been praising the support and care she was given after the incident.
People, he said, rushed over with their towels to stop the bleeding and called for help.
“Fortunately, this is going to be full recovery with minimal damage. Everyone’s happy and I’d just like to, on behalf of the family, thank everybody that participated because they’re all wonderful people here,” he added.
He also had praise for the Cayman Islands Hospital team.
“Of course the family of this lady would like very much to thank all the people on shore that helped her so much, that helped to get her into the ambulance. The other [thing] is the magnificent response [from] your hospital and the ambulance unit. The people were very capable, professional,” the spokesperson said.
“It’s just wonderful. You’re lucky you have a hospital that good,” he said, pointing out that the bite left the woman with serious injuries.
“Although it looks quite severe, it missed many of the nerves… it also missed key muscles and tendons,” he added.
The spokesperson said, given the severity of the bite, there had been some concern that the woman had been bitten by a shark, rather than a barracuda.
However, Johanna Kohler, shark project research officer at the Department of Environment, says the injuries sustained by the woman are not indicative of a shark attack.
Don’t swim in murky waters
“[The victim] is a great swimmer,” the spokesperson said, but he urged people to be careful when they are in disturbed water.
“She was very, very lucky and that’s why I said to anybody in Grand Cayman if you see water that’s cloudy… water that’s somewhat influenced by say a [nor’wester] be careful when you swim,” he said.
Kohler agreed, saying that on the morning of the attack, the storm waves stirred up the sand making the water very murky.
“Hence the visibility underwater was bad and there were lots of bait fish (jacks and sprats) around. Barracudas are very fast hunters and the barracuda was probably hunting after those jacks and didn’t see the lady in time, accidentally biting her instead of the jack that it was actually after,” she added.
The DoE, in its original statement about the incident, said the responding DoE conservation officer had noticed several schools of sprats and some feeding activity in the water at the location of the attack.
“The public is reminded to be aware of small baitfish jumping out of the water when swimming as this is usually an indication of feeding activity nearby,” it added.
Barracuda are said to be attracted to shiny and glittery objects, like jewellery, which they confuse with the silvery gleam of the scales of the small fish they prey upon.
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